Smoking and Overconsumption of Meat Linked to Increased Cancer Risk

Certain lifestyle factors may increase your risk of cancer, but smoking and eating too much animal product seem to have a greater impact than most.

In a recent study featured on Medical News Today, researchers looked into the development rates of 21 different cancers in 157 different countries. They found that in 87 countries, over half of cancer cases were linked to smoking and overconsumption of animal products.

For men, the smoking index was twice as important as the consumption of animal products. For women, however, the consumption of meat posed a bigger threat, as it showed “the strongest correlation among certain cancers, including female breast, kidney, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, testicular, and thyroid cancer.”

Researchers believe that this is due to their ability to trigger the production of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Although IGF-1 is needed for healthy physiological growth, overproduction may lead to the development of tumors.